


like a puzzle already solved (the way we fit)

by kwritten



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-02
Updated: 2014-12-17
Packaged: 2018-02-27 21:42:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2707781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kwritten/pseuds/kwritten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>sometime in season two - originally intended to be immediately after Roy is introduced to 'Team Arrow' but didn't end up going there</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Upon the evening in question, Felicity Smoak went home at half-past nine just as she always did, the plastic bag in her hand sweating in the summer air and exposing the hidden containers of Chunky Monkey and Dublin Mudslide, she put her key into the lock, left her coat and shoes in a heap at the door and collapsed on the couch in an old stained t-shirt and fluffy socks. 

She had already started watching that night’s recording of the _The Voice_ and was a good five spoonfuls into the Dublin Mudslide when the front door creaked open and a strong male voice gave her a stern lecture about the WD-40 he had slipped into her purse three weeks ago, it only takes two seconds Felicity and did you start watching without me?

Her legs are bare and wrapped over his lap as if made to be there, he drags out the elastic in her ponytail and rumples her hair before even saying hello and makes her rewind back to the emotional backstory of the mother of two currently singing when he finally manages to pick up his Chunky Monkey (three to five spoonfuls less full than it should be) (but what does he care) and teases her when she cries and babbles through the emotional backstory.

 

Truth is, he planned on being late because he loves hearing her tearfully (but bravely) explain to him just why _this_ delightful mother of three or youngest son should be the winner of all winners to ever win this trashy reality show she’s ‘dragged’ him into watching. 

Truth is, she used to take out the ponytail herself and run her fingernails along her scalp after a long day but now she waits for him to do it because his fingers linger at the base of her neck where she just can’t get the angle right on her own.

 

Somewhere between the couch and the shower and the bed, most likely when one or both had a toothbrush or dental floss clogging up their mouths and garbling up their words, they begin (or end) a discussion about who was going to buy milk the next day. She crawls into bed satisfied with the knowledge that he knows which brand of almond milk she prefers for her coffee and he slips in beside her completely assured that she’ll remember to also grab a can of shaving cream while she’s out and neither one of them has to remind the other that tomorrow is _Psych_ and therefore black licorice night.


	2. so... you bought the milk, right?

In the morning, Felicity Smoak kissed her secret boyfriend goodbye, picked up bagels from her favorite shop, remembered to not kiss her secret boyfriend hello when he walked into work with her latte in his hand, dismantled a top secret government firewall, and confirmed her dinner plans for that evening. Oh, she also cleaned a couple of wounds. Just another day at the office.

John Diggle woke up, did exactly fifty-nine sit-ups and thirty-two pushups on the floor next to his secret girlfriend’s bed, turned on the coffee maker before waking her up with a kiss goodbye, went for a jog, picked up a cinnamon dolce latte and a black coffee no room, drove to work, felt very manly prancing around the office without a shirt on for a few hours, pretended not to notice that secret girlfriend did not seem to notice his shirtlessness, and then saves the world for a few hours before hitting the bar with his coworker.

Dinner is nice and refreshing, Laurel Lance isn’t the first person Felicity would have chosen for a friend, but they both like wine and wearing heels and not talking about bullet wounds, so an evening out now and then who saves the world like a normal person in a business suit and with armfuls of files instead of assault weapons is a pretty good change of pace. Conversation is stilted only until the first drink comes and then it feels like what Felicity thinks college must have been like for her extremely peppy roommate. As she walks to her car, she silently thanks Sara for coming into the office and forcing her to start having lunch-now-dinner dates with her nosy sister. A girl can always use a few more girlfriends.

She’s on the couch in that old ratty t-shirt that hangs off her shoulder and probably a bit tipsy and so’s he so that’s actually kind of perfect and his jacket is nearly on the floor when she angles her head back at him so he’s looking at her upside down and asks where the milk is.

Because they agreed last night in the shower or while brushing their teeth that he would remember to go pick up some milk.

And also black licorice. Because tonight is _Psych_ night. Even if it’s technically closer to one in the morning.

And he’s contemplating dragging her along with him, pulling her up by the arm and tossing her into his truck and watching her toddle down the grocery store aisles while he follows and slips food she’ll never eat into the cart that he’s pushing with the one rattling wheel because he always ends up with the one with that wheel that wants to perpetually turn left and be damned if anyone sees them with her wearing his old college football shirt and him not hiding anything anymore.

Because the best part about buying milk as a couple is standing in front of the glass doors with her arm through yours talking about the dinner date she had with that friend you’ve never particularly liked.

And he can almost see her thinking the exact same thing, glasses slipping up her forehead and hair spilling out over the arm of the couch.

When her phone lights up on the coffee table.

 

Four hours, five fresh bruises, two bad puns, and one bad guy behind bars later, he slips the almond milk she likes into the fridge and the shaving cream he likes into the cupboard under the bathroom sink and settles onto the couch to wait for her to return from the office and pretends not to notice the new aches and pains in his worn out body.

Four hours and twenty minutes, two hacked phones, three cups of coffee, and one successful night at the office later, she crashes into her apartment holding a bag with the almond milk she likes and the shaving cream he uses and some fancy black licorice because they deserve fancy and finds him asleep on the couch, an episode of _Psych_ queued up on the tv and a box of _Good & Plenty_’s sitting on the coffee table.

She wakes him up with an 'accidental' slam of the door and they laugh about the milk and curl up on the couch to fall asleep together.

It’s the one thing they have that’s all theirs.


	3. internet memes and binary code

The things that Felicity Smoak is good at and the things that people presume she is good at are often two very different things. Like one of those interenet memes  _my mom thinks, my friends think, my cat thinks, what I actually do_  all in a tidy list with accompanying pictures so that no one who isn't in the know immediately feels linked in to the truth. She usually reblogs all of these, even if they don't apply to her, when they pop up on one of her many "social networking" sites because she likes the feeling of anonymous solidarity - of everyone coming together to admit,  _we really aren't as cool as you want us to be_.   
  
She's pretty sure that Oliver Queen thinks that all she does is sit glued to her phone and tablet, waiting for an excuse to hack into something. That Thea Queen thinks all she does is wander around following Oliver Queen and waiting for him to have something more productive for her to do. Sara is a little bit like Felicity's cat in this scenario, she's pretty sure the stocky blonde is convinced she is always eating something Sara wants whenever she's not around - especially considering the fact that Felicity hasn't been able to finish a meal without Sara stealing a good third of it out of her hands in about three months. Sin seems to share this opinion, though it is colored by her deep suspicion that Felicity doesn't need sleep and giggles all the time. Laurel thinks she's pretty bored all day (which is understandable considering the amount of cat gifs Felicity sends her via email and phone on a daily basis) (neither one of them are particularly fond of cats but the internet makes cat people of us all). Roy likes to sit next to her in the cave or in the club and ask her ridiculous questions about genetics and herbology as if she's a natural scientist (probably because he isn't quite clear on just what exactly the different branches of science are) (and sometimes doesn't seem to know the difference between a real university course and something he read about kids studying at Hogwarts. These are the things that Felicity Smoak is sure of.  
  
John Diggle, if pressed, would say that in her natural habitat, Felicity Smoak wears grimy old pj's and eats junk food while watching really bad reality tv and surfing the internet on her tablet.  
  
However, the same John Diggle also thinks a number of very strange things about what she does when he's not around. For example, he's speculated on more than one occasion (while waiting in her empty apartment for 'girl's night' to be over) that dinner with Laurel actually means  _digging up old case files and spilling wine on them in Laurel's apartment_. And that shopping with Sara actually means  _being dragged around midtown to buy vintage clothing that neither of them will actually wear and possibly stop in at the local animal shelter and talk each other out of taking home all the angry fluff balls (Sara wants the fluffy ones and Felicity wants the angry ones)._  And that when he finds her and Roy whispering consipiratorially to each other at the bar that they are actually  _planning elaborate pranks on Oliver that are never put into action_. These are the things that John Diggle is sure of.   
  
(To be fair: Felicity is under the distinct impression that all one John Diggle does when not in her presence is (a) work out; (b) go jogging; (c) drink cheap beer with Sara; (d) convince Oliver Queen not to make foolhardy decisions; (e) follow Oliver Queen into his foolhardy decisions; (f) sleep.)  
  
(To be utterly fair, neither one of them is really wrong about the other.)  
  
  
  
On Felicity Smoak's list of  _things people think I do_  - her mother probably thinks she spends her time in a high-tech world out of a terrible science fiction film with billionaires feeding her grapes off the vine where everyone wears all white and there is no furniture, just cubes sticking out of the floors and walls.  
  
What she actually does is lay on her couch with her legs swung over John's lap, eating junk food,  ~~arguing with him about~~  watching reality tv, and blogging on her tablet while wearing one of his old t-shirts.  
  
(She really is as cool as she wants to be.)  
  
  
  
  
On John Diggle's list of things people think I do - probably most of his old wartime buddies think he spends his free time making eloquent speeches about what it is like to be a veteran in today's world, when he isn't trying to save it.  
  
What he actually does is wrap his body around a girl with a heart of gold and pure eyes and prays that his monsters let him sleep through the night.  
  
(He really is as well-adjusted as he possibly can be.)  
  
  
  
  
  
  
There are numbers that add up to what makes Felicity Smoak. She can put them into binary for you and it would take a keen eye to notice it, but she'd leave something out.  
  
Because we never think of those empty spaces between times as being an essential ingredient to the sum of our parts. The lazy rainy afternoons spent doing laundry and cleaning the bathroom while singing loudly along to bad pop-punk from college while your boyfriend is laughing in the other room as he finally fixes the garbage disposal.  
  
These are the moments that make us.  
They can be the moments that break us.  
  
(Especially if we don't pay attention to them.)


End file.
